New York, NY – May 17, 2015– Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the nation’s largest retail bookseller and a leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today announced that Bookseller Beth Gaffney of Tampa, FL, was named one of Barnes & Noble’s three 2016 Above & Beyond national winners. The Above & Beyond award is Barnes & Noble’s highest honor, recognizing booksellers for excellence in delivering extraordinary customer service, team spirit, going the extra mile, increasing business knowledge and personal growth.

In addition to displaying the aforementioned qualities, Beth, a bookseller at the company’s Tampa, FL, store, was chosen for her efforts to provide students with reading challenges and language barriers with opportunities for recognition, resources and encouragement.
To win the annual national award, a Barnes & Noble bookseller must have also received Above & Beyond recognition at the district and regional levels. Beth was chosen from more than 720 other Barnes & Noble employees honored by their districts throughout the year for their excellence.

As a national winner, Beth received an all-expense paid trip to New York City, where she was recognized by several senior leaders of the company and awarded other prizes.

“We are extremely proud of Beth, whose attitude and behaviors consistently go above and beyond the company’s high service principles and values,” said Ron Boire, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble, Inc. “At Barnes & Noble, we are committed to ensuring all our booksellers feel appreciated for the special role they play in the success of our stores, our customers’ lives and in the communities we serve. The Above & Beyond award is esteemed and one of our favorite forms of recognition, especially when we select our national winners, who are the cream of the crop. We thank Beth and her Above & Beyond colleagues for setting the example for all of our booksellers, for providing leadership and for their commitment to our customers, values and success.”

About Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) is a Fortune 500 company, the nation’s largest retail bookseller, and a leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products. The Company operates 640 Barnes & Noble bookstores in 50 states, and one of the Web’s premier e-commerce sites, BN.com (www.bn.com). The Nook Digital business offers a lineup of popular NOOK® tablets and eReaders and an expansive collection of digital reading and entertainment content through the NOOK Store®. The NOOK Store features more than 4 million digital books in the US (www.nook.com), plus periodicals and comics, and offers the ability to enjoy content across a wide array of popular devices through Free NOOK Reading Apps™ available for Android™, iOS® and Windows®.

General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained by visiting the Company’s corporate website at www.barnesandnobleinc.com.

Barnes & Noble®, Barnes & Noble Booksellers®, Barnes & Noble.com® and Discover Great New Writers® are trademarks of Barnes & Noble, Inc. or its affiliates. NOOK® and the NOOK logos are trademarks of Nook Digital, LLC or its affiliates.

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